Checklist of Vascular Plants of the Important Plant Area “Chu-Ili Landscapes” (IPA-KZ-IS)

Checklist
Latest version published by Wings - Animal and Plant Conservation and Protection Fund on Nov 27, 2025 Wings - Animal and Plant Conservation and Protection Fund
Publication date:
27 November 2025
License:
CC-BY 4.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 223 records in English (16 KB) - Update frequency: unknown
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Metadata as an RTF file download in English (14 KB)

Description

This checklist documents the vascular plant diversity of the Important Plant Area (IPA) “Chu-Ili Landscapes” (IPA-KZ-IS), located in Almaty Region, Kazakhstan. The site harbours exceptional floristic richness, including up to 95% of the global population of the paleoendemic Incarvillea semiretschenskia, as well as the narrow endemic Tulipa regelii and several nationally rare species (Astragalus pseudocytisoides, Phlomoides septentrionalis, Scutellaria titovii, Iris kuschakewiczii).

The dataset supports conservation planning, KBA/IPA designation, Red List assessments, and biodiversity monitoring. It integrates field surveys (2023–2025), herbarium records, iNaturalist/GBIF observations, and published floristic sources.

Note on checklist reliability

The current species list for the Chu-Ili Landscapes (2023–2025) has undergone critical taxonomic revision regarding synonymy, nomenclature, and distribution. Uncertain records were excluded. The resulting checklist, published in GBIF, should be considered provisional. The authors emphasize that it will be updated and refined as new herbarium specimens and verified photographic observations become available.

Content: 223 vascular plant species confirmed (2023–2025), including 15 endemic, nationally rare, and socially valuable taxa.

Data Records

The data in this checklist resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 223 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Dubynin A, Epiktetov V, Dimeyeva L, Kurmantаeva A, Institute of Botany and Phytointroduction (2025). Checklist of Vascular Plants of the Important Plant Area “Chu-Ili Landscapes” (IPA-KZ-IS). Version 1.6. Wings - Animal and Plant Conservation and Protection Fund. Checklist dataset. https://ipt.wingeds.world/resource?r=chu_ili_plants&v=1.6

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Wings - Animal and Plant Conservation and Protection Fund. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 5924cdad-e1f1-412c-a3ea-7405a3bfbf2a.  Wings - Animal and Plant Conservation and Protection Fund publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Participant Node Managers Committee.

Keywords

Checklist

Contacts

Alexander Dubynin
  • Originator
Institute of Botany and Phytointroduction
Almaty
KZ
Alexander Dubynin
  • Originator
KZ
Vladimir Epiktetov
  • Originator
KZ
Liliya Dimeyeva
  • Originator
KZ
Alfiya Kurmantаeva
  • Originator
KZ
Institute of Botany and Phytointroduction
Almaty
KZ

Geographic Coverage

● Country: Kazakhstan ● Region: Almaty Region ● Code: IPA-KZ-IS ● Coordinates (centre): 43.90° N, 75.45° E ● Bounding altitudes: 770–1,095 m ● Area: ~38,000 ha ● Overlap: within Zhusandaly State Reserve Zone, partially overlapping the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Tamgaly”. The IPA covers flat-topped ridges and gentle slopes built of gneiss, schist, and limestone. Vegetation includes desertified steppes, ephemeral grasslands, semi-shrub communities, and xeropetrophytic assemblages. It represents a transition between steppe and desert ecosystems with unique relict and endemic flora.

Bounding Coordinates South West [-90, -180], North East [90, 180]

Taxonomic Coverage

No Description available

Kingdom Plantae

Project Data

No Description available

Title Checklist of Vascular Plants of the Important Plant Area “Chu-Ili Landscapes” (IPA-KZ-IS)

The personnel involved in the project:

Alexander Dubynin

Sampling Methods

Sampling combined classical floristic surveys, herbarium verification, and integration of digital biodiversity records. Field surveys were conducted in key habitats (xeropetrophytic slopes, ephemeral grasslands, semi-shrub communities) to document the presence and abundance of vascular plants. Voucher specimens were collected selectively and compared with historical herbarium material (Institute of Botany and Phytointroduction, Almaty). Additional occurrence records were compiled from iNaturalist (verified observations), GBIF, and relevant literature. Taxonomic nomenclature was harmonized following POWO/WCVP/IPNI. Species records with uncertain identity or distribution were excluded to ensure data quality.

Study Extent The study covers the Important Plant Area “Chu-Ili Landscapes” (IPA-KZ-IS) in the Almaty Region of Kazakhstan, approximately 38,000 ha between 770–1,095 m elevation. Field investigations and data compilation were carried out during 2023–2025, representing the most up-to-date assessment of the local flora. The geographic extent corresponds to the core habitats of the paleoendemic Incarvillea semiretschenskia and associated xeropetrophytic communities, serving as a surrogate for the wider Chu-Ili mountain system documented in the Study Area Description. Temporal coverage spans three consecutive growing seasons (spring–autumn), with repeated site visits and integration of herbarium, citizen science (iNaturalist, GBIF), and published floristic records.

Method step description:

  1. Field surveys (2023–2025): systematic floristic observations across multiple habitats and altitudinal ranges; collection of vouchers for critical taxa. Herbarium and literature review: cross-checking of collected material with historical specimens and authoritative sources (Flora of Kazakhstan, Illustrated Guide to the Plants of Kazakhstan, Red Data Book, Kubentayev et al. 2024). Data integration: import of verified citizen-science data (iNaturalist) and GBIF records, followed by validation against distribution patterns and synonymy. Taxonomic validation: reconciliation of all records with POWO/WCVP/IPNI to standardize accepted names, synonyms, and authorship. Checklist compilation: merging of all confirmed records into Darwin Core Archive format (taxon.txt core file with relevant extensions). Quality control: exclusion of doubtful species, verification of endemic/rare status, annotation of conservation categories (IUCN, Red Data Book of Kazakhstan). Final dataset preparation: generation of the checklist including 223 vascular plant species, with metadata structured for GBIF publication under CC BY 4.0 license.

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Pavlov, N.V. (ed.) (1956–1966). Flora of Kazakhstan. Vols. 1–9. Alma-Ata: Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR.
  2. Goloshkokov, V.P. (ed.) (1969–1972). Illustrated Guide to the Plants of Kazakhstan. Vols. 1–2. Alma-Ata: Nauka.
  3. Red Data Book of Kazakhstan. (2014). Vol. 2, Part 1: Plants. Almaty: Art Print XXI. 605 pp.
  4. Roldugin, I.I. & Fisyun, V.V. (2018). Flora of the Chu-Ili Mountains (summary and analysis). Almaty: Əreket-Print. 210 pp.
  5. Khramtsov, V.N. (1983). Vegetation of the Chu-Ili Mountains (geography and cartography). PhD dissertation in Botany (03.00.05). Leningrad. 316 pp.
  6. Kubentayev, S.A., Alibekov, D.T., Perezhogin, Y.V., Lazkov, G.A., Kupriyanov, A.N., Ebel, A.L., Izbastina, K.S., Borodulina, O.V., & Kubentayeva, B.B. (2024). Revised checklist of endemic vascular plants of Kazakhstan. PhytoKeys, 238: 241–279. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.238.114475
  7. POWO (2025). Phlomoides dshungarica (Popov) Lazkov & Sennikov. Plants of the World Online. Published in: Memoranda Soc. Fauna Fl. Fenn. 89: 133 (2013). Lamiaceae. Available at: https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77136142-1 (accessed 26 September 2025).
  8. Dimeyeva, L., Permitina, V., Kurmantayeva, A., Imanalinova, A., Osmonali, B., Kozybayeva, F., Beiseyeva, G., Ussen, K., Iskakov, R., Oyuntsetseg, B., & Friesen, N. (2024). Habitats, plant diversity, and molecular phylogeny of endemic relic species Incarvillea semiretschenskia (Bignoniaceae). Plants, 13(23), 3299. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13233299
  9. iNaturalist (2025). Observations dataset. Available at: https://www.inaturalist.org/attachments/flow_task_outputs/10283591/observations-623966.csv.zip?1759498967 (accessed 3 October 2025).
  10. Dubynin, A.V. & Epiktetov, V.G. (2024). Assessment of the extinction risk of the Kazakh paleoendemic Incarvillea semiretschenskia and measures for its conservation. Problems of Botany of South Siberia and Mongolia, 23(2): 76–85. https://doi.org/10.14258/pbssm.2024067
  11. IUCN (2024). Incarvillea semiretschenskia. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Available at: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/257422099/265145821 (accessed 3 October 2024).
  12. IPA-KZ-IS (2025). Boundary data for “Landscapes of Chu-Ili” (IPA-KZ-IS). Google Drive resource. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ojYkyBZmgDBUu-VN_vzJeh0B9VQqTB3A/view?usp=sharing (accessed 3 October 2025).

Additional Metadata

Acknowledgements Contributors: A.V. Dubynin, V.G. Epiktetov, L.A. Dimeyeva, A.A. Kurmantaeva
Alternative Identifiers 5924cdad-e1f1-412c-a3ea-7405a3bfbf2a
https://ipt.wingeds.world/resource?r=chu_ili_plants